Virginia made the long journey to Donaldson Park on Saturday for a Championship 3 league encounter. With the visitors sitting a couple of places above them in the league the Dee knew they were in for a tight contest.

There were only a couple of changes to the Dee’s teamsheet this week. Sam Ingham returned to take his place in the second row whilst Jody Newell filled the outhalf position and young Bradley Burnham made his 1st XV debut on the wing.

Virginia got off to the better start and immediately put pressure on the Dee’s defence. It only took eight minutes for them to open their account when they moved the ball back and forth across their backline and their winger scampered over in the corner. The conversion was missed to leave the score 5-0 to Virginia.

Dee were struggling to get their hands on the ball at this stage and it was only due to their determination in defence that they kept their line intact, marshalled as usual by the inspirational Matthew Stockton.

Halfway through the half Virginia extended their lead when they opted for a kick at goal when the Dee were penalised at a ruck. The kicker made no mistake and the score moved to 8-0.

The Dee supporters were thinking the worst at this stage but to their credit the Dee upped their game and started to put several phases of play together. As they entered the Virginia 22 the forwards showed good patience as they got closer to the line and it was the ever- youthful Davy Skipp who eventually crashed over to score. The difficult conversion was missed but the deficit was now only 3 points.

The Dee had all the momentum and continued to pressurise Virginia. Things got harder for Virginia when they lost a player to the bin for a high tackle. Dee took full advantage of this numerical disparity and in the final move of the half worked the ball out to Robbie Ingham who selflessly moved it on to Burnham who went over in the corner for his debut try. The conversion was unsuccessful but the Dee had a 10-8 halftime lead.

This lead was widened after only 2 minutes of the second half gone. A clever up and under by Newell was caught by the Virginia full back just short of the line. He was bundled over his own line by Robbie Ingham to win a 5-metre scrum. From the scrum the ball was spun out along the backline and Robbie Ingham went over out wide. This time Newell was successful with the conversion to give the Dee a 17-8 lead.

As the half progressed the sun disappeared and there was moisture in the air as the mist came rolling in from the sea. As the weather changed so did the Dee’s fortunes. As they chased the bonus point try they created several opportunities to score but, unfortunately, due to a couple of handling errors were not able convert these into points. On the hour mark Virginia cut the deficit when they kicked a penalty to bring the score to 17-11.

Virginia could now smell victory and with only five minutes left in the game they managed to work themselves up into the Dee’s 22 and forced their way over for a score. The outhalf calmly slotted the conversion to give the visitors a one-point lead.

The Dee tried hard in the final few minutes but Virginia managed to keep them out until the referee blew for full time. Although the result did not go Dee’s way it was an entertaining game of rugby with both sides playing hard but fair.

Man of the match this week went to the debutant Bradley Burnham, who showed glimpses of his pace, defended well and topped it off with a try.

Next week the Dee travel to Newry for a rearranged league match, k.o.2.30pm.